Along The Shadowy Path
Regrouping "Did we actually....fail...?" The group had returned to the Lestrange Manor, and the entire air was thick was depression; thick enough to cut it if anyone felt like wielding their weapons. Mina looked thoroughly depressed; this made sense, the child had been in her arms when it was taken. "Yas..." Marin was bitter about the whole ordeal. Not only did that cat-girl-shadow-demon outsmart her, she had lost her future child. "I want to hunt her down. And hurt her really really really badly..." Her voice was full of bitterness; as of currently, she could think of nothing else. "Failure or not, you did procure something interesting." Saiph, though frowning, seemed interested by the new development. "They targeted that child, and that child specifically. In a hospital full of children, why go for just that one...?" Marin was cursing at the top of her lungs. "Fucking shadowy-thingy! I wish we could just expose it to fucking light and watch it burn..." She was seconds away from attacking somebody in her unrestrained fury. Kisara stretched her arms, bored. "Calm yourself, Marin. When you think about it, her taking that kid could've been just to spite you. I know how demons work. Vindicative creatures, they are. So if it manages to tick you off, then you should forget about it until we win." Marin wanted to slap Kisara for her harsh words. "Forget!? That shadow-beasty took my child away from me! I can't forget that!" Clenching her fists, she continued "I'm going to go back to the hospital right now!" Mina grabbed her, pulling her back down. "No you are not. You need to think, before you holler off and get yourself killed." Her entire tone was reproachful, reprimanding Marin for the stupidity of such an action. "The child also was not yours." Hōō frowned. "You are overreacting to the kidnapping of someone that has no attachment to you whatsoever. Humans are strange indeed." "I am not a human. I'm a demon. And she would have grown attached...and I want a little sister..." Marin restrained herself from slapping Hōō. "Don't speak of vague possibilities in the future." The symbiote snapped. "It makes you look weak. And, last I heard, you were half-human." Mina frowned. "She has a point on that last one." Marin's rage reached a boiling point. She wouldn't smack the phoenix a new one- especially because it would bust the case. Instead, she merely hissed like a cat. "Shut it, you overgrown parrot." "You're behaving more like a child than the child itself." Hōō sighed. "Both of you, be silent for a moment." Saiph himself let out a sigh, exasperated with the bickering. "What we need to do, gathered here as we are, is formulate our plan of action, not bickering, or trying to rush off and get killed." Kisara rolled her eyes. "Why is it, that every time we're all together, we are always arguing? It's kinda annoying. I mean for once can we at least try and get along? I have a headache already from Marin's crying about the kid." Marin slapped Kisara in the face all of a sudden. "Shut up, will you!? This is a serious matter...I cannot stand to think what that evil lady is doing to her...Hurry up you white-haired old bastard, we need to find her this instant!" Her patience was waning as she was trying to keep it together. "You need to calm down before we can progress anywhere at all." Saiph shot Marin a cold look. "Hōō is correct, you are overreacting about the kidnapping of a child who is not yours. Calm yourself and try to think clearly." Marin kicked the wall in anger. "Wah! I want this to hurry up! I do not even care what you have to say, if that girl is in danger, then I need to go and rescue her, do you understand that!? It is cold to just leave a child be!" "You're speaking to the wrong person." Mina sighed. "He's never been the type to show compassion to children. Now, Marin, calm down. If you don't, we can't get anywhere." Marin zipped her lips; trying to restrain herself from going ballistic upon Saiph. "...I am calm. Even though behind my smile is the rage of a thousand white-hot suns." Saiph groaned. "Either way, I do have a plan of action, if you all would be willing to lend an ear." "Sure, just shoot." Mina wanted to get out of this house a quickly as possible. "Reverse tracking." Saiph said it as if it was the simplest thing. "You've all fought this woman, you are now familiar with her own shadows. By using the shadow of a Quincy, and Marin's ability to sense yōki, you can warp directly to her." Kisara stroked her non-existent beard in thought. "...Well, that's all fine and dandy." Deep down, she wondered when she, a normal human, would be able to do anything of note. "So we're all ready to go?" "I'd assume so." Mina frowned. "I wish Sam could come along, but she's still out of it..." Marin's body was shivering as she could barely hold back the excitement that she was experiencing. "Hurry up, I wish to go and rescue the child. So pick up the snail pace and allow us to proceed." "Mina, open the Schatten!" Saiph ordered, and Mina bent to the ground, swiping her hand to the right and creating a large line shadow, large enough for them all to step into. "Next, Marin, I need you to focus on finding the woman's yōki. If you make a single mistake, you will get them all killed." Marin was an incredibly intelligent, attractive, kind, and powerful young woman. Of course she would know about what she was performing. "Do nut underestimate me, you fool. I am well aware of my goal." Marin had found the yōki of the shadow Nue instantly, locking on to the woman. "Seatbelts, everyone!" Mina called out as the shadow enveloped Marin, herself, Kisara, and Hōō, transporting them to a location near the shore; resembling a port. Mina frowned. "This is the Tōhoku region..." How Mina could tell this from just a look around was anyone's guess. "And this is a port. Why the heck did she come here?" Kisara glanced around- noticing how murky the water is, she immediately pointed out, "The water's kinda shadowy. Shadows are everywhere. She's skewed the playing field in her favour so hard it hurts." Mina frowned. She didn't like that it felt as if they had walked right into a trap. "With shadows this rich...she can come from anywhere. What are we going to do?" Marin was unable to think of a proper solution. Despite her immense intelligence; being one of the smartest people to ever exist in the history of anything, Takami had the team absolutely cornered; shadow was such a versatile element that it would be difficult to achieve a victory in this situation. "...Maybe, we should stay away from the shadows and fight there?" "Sweetie, that implies she'd let us." Mina ruffled Marin's hair like a little puppy. "You aren't thinking right. And now that we're already here....we can only use shadows to get away, but she'd know that. So I suppose we just need to find her." Kisara looked around, sensing a rather...ominous presence. Something was definitely wrong. There was a completely unnatural feel to the whole dock. There was a pretty blue sky and green grass, and birds were flying peacefully... "...Wait. Why are the birds repeatedly flying in a circle over and over." The hazy distorted noise in the distance was even scarier. Marin, naturally, in her cool calmness and absolute zen was unable to be deterred by the chickens flying overhead in a loop as they squawked like her idiotic older sister, merely cackling in the face of adversity. "Ehhh! This is not so scary!" "I think you're losing your mind." Hōō sighed. "What we need to do is chase her our way. However....if she took the child for what I think she did...she won't be focused on us, but we need to focus on her and quick." Marin was really, really mad at her. "Stop making fun of me you overgrown chicken!" Her cheeks were puffed out as her skin remained scarlet in anger. "But what do you mean???? Can we track the girl now!!!!? I do not want her in danger...!!!!" Kisara felt like Marin was the boulder on the team letting them down sometimes. Of course at various points they were all the millstone. So it was all kinda even. Hōō/Karen, of course, seemed to be the most competent out of all of them, but they'd only known her/it/him for a short time. "Alright, let's split up, gang. If we all search in one group then it'll take longer." "Groups of two." Mina insisted, wrapping her arm through Marin's. She figured she'd be the best to keep Marin in check anyway; otherwise she'd just storm off and probably twist her ankle doing something stupid. "I suppose that means you're with me, Kisara." Hōō cast the girl a look. "Watch my back, alright?" Kisara nodded. "I've got your back. It's sad, so far, you're the only ally I've met who has no crippling quirks. It's just, y'know, nice to talk to somebody who's kinda normal." "It would appear we are of like minds." Hōō smirked. "I think we'll make a good pair." Minae eyed them shrewdly. "What was that?" Kisara's eyes sharpened in anticipation. "....Maybe the Nue's close. Stay on your guard, everyone." As if that didn't need repeating a million times. Kisara held her staff tightly, ready to swing around and attack at any moment. Marin's eyes drooped; even though she was unafraid, there was always something huggable about her. "...I see her!!!" A pair of golden eyes rose from a shadowy portal, as the Nue revealed itself in front of Marin and Mintaka. "...Hello there." Fighting The Untouchable "...oh shit you have excellent timing." Whatever Mina could have said, that was probably not the best thing. The Nue's body contorted erratically as shadows spewed from her body. "With my shadows, everywhere near and far is my body. You have no hope in hiding anything from me." "That technically makes you the American government." Mina snarked as she lept into the air, pulling Marin up with her. She gathered reishi in the air to stand on an invisible platform, forming her crossbow. "There has to be a limit to these shadows. There are none in the air, only on the ground. Perhaps there's the advantage in that." Marin looked up at the sky. "Oh." It seemed that she was additionally thinking what Mina was thinking as well. "...Shadows cannot go into the sky. That is interesting." She had utilized her Power of Destruction to swing it towards the floor, sending the Nue into the air so that she would be in the sky as well from the impact, allowing Mina to strike. Mina extended her hand, making a finger gun gesture, pointing it the Nue. A small sphere of energy formed at the tip of her finger, and her face scrunched up in concentration. "Spirit Gun!" With the recoil sending her arm shooting upward, she fired a large beam of blue energy at the Nue. Dissolving into shadows the Nue evaded Mina's blast before rising from the darkness behind Mintaka, having used her shadow teleportation to appear behind her in a blink. The shadows had a tangile form- that of a large talon of blackness, ascending to slash her back. "I have got you now, you stupid Quincy!" "Gah!" Blood spurted from Mina's back as the claws raked through her skin, sending her hurtling down towards the ground where she hit like a boulder. She got up, wincing in pain as blood dripped down her back. "Marin! If you're done standing there like this is the matinee showing of an action movie, I could use your help!" Marin asked, "What is a matinee? Is it a mispronounced manitee?" It was indeed quite confusing as to what a matinee was. "Okay, I will help out!" Marin manifested the crimson and jet-black energies of the Power of Destruction upon her foot, kicking forward in an arching manner as to release a crescent moon of destruction towards the Nue, who was still setting up her attack on Mintaka, causing the demon to be blown away. Mina frowned. "I don't even think this woman is trying..." She was unsure if the Nue was even putting any effort in, as she watched Marin propel the woman into the air. "Marin! Be careful! I'm sensing some sort of....deception!" Marin remained alert to the Nue—wispy shadows danced around her while the Power of Destruction was concentrated on her forehead. The Nue whirled around her mimicking a typhoon; attempting to land numerous cheap shots upon Marin. "Hyaa!" Releasing a triumphant shout from her lips, she had released a powerful condensed ray of red and black towards the Nue from her forehead; by a stroke of luck, she struck the "Nue"; causing a chain reaction as the shadows faded away. It seemed that this was all a clever ruse. "Dammit!" Mina's eyes narrowed. "It was a duplicate!?" She knew something was wrong; they were landing hits far too easily on that woman. "Marin, where's the real one!?" Marin could not discern where the genuine Nue was. "I do not know!" Despite this, a glimpse of shadow caught her keen eye, causing her to point it out. "Hurry, however! It is heading around the corner! Perhaps we are capable of tracking it." "Let's go!" Mina agreed as she followed Marin's directions. Hōō and Kisara quickly caught up with them, running alongside them. Hōō called out to Mina. "Did you just see the shadow?" "Yeah!" Mina called back and looked at Kisara. "Where did you two come from? Better yet, where were you when we were fighting?" Kisara stared around. "We were searching. Isn't it obvious? That WAS part of the job here, after all. It just took a...long time to hear the fight. After that we just rushed here immediately." "In other words, we weren't focusing our senses." Hōō explained sheepishly. "However, I have a clear focus on the Nue now and, if I m correct, it may be attempting a transfer." "What is a transfer?" Marin was impossibly intelligent, witty, and cute, but yet she had forgotten already. "...Can someone remind me, please?" "Sweetie, you really can be a bit dense." Mintaka smiled gently. "A transfer refers to moving from one place to another. In this case, the Nue is going to transfer from the body she's in, into the body of the young child. She wants a new host." "Oh!" Marin had suddenly understood what Mintaka had meant; but of course, she knew all along—it had just taken her a while to remember. "So that is it! Then, Nue is shadow...where would shadow be located? The water looks dark, and shadows cannot go into the sky! Is that where she is?" "The wat"er...." Mina murmured. "What if she's near the dock?" "The what now?" Hōō questioned. "The dock, where ships come in." Mina explained quickly. "She can't perform this under water, that child still needs to breathe. Kill her, and there's no adequate host. Performing it at the water's edge, however, on a raised platform...it's perfect." "Then what are we doing here!? Shouldn't we all be rushing to the dock!?" Marin exclaimed in desperation, her affection for the child was indeed quite strong; at the least, it was enough to quite effortlessly throw her common sense out of the window as she began to speed up towards the dock, where Mina had said the Nue would be. "Tch...!" Mina gathered reishi under her feet, dashing after Marin. "Marin, don't rush into something! What is the Nue has set traps!?" She gritted her teeth, knowing full well her lover was ignoring what she was saying; when it came to children, Marin would cut out her heart to keep them safe. "Kisara, let's follow them!" Hōō insisted. "The Nue isn't just going to let her private time with the child be interrupted!" Realizing that 'private time' and private time were completely different things, Kisara felt like they were standing there for a few months- when in reality it was only a few months. "You lead the way, then!" Hōō dashed after Mina and Kisara followed close on her heels. It wasn't long before the entire group, disorganized as it was, made their way to the dock, and were shocked at what they saw. Floating above the dark waters was the kidnapped child, apparently asleep as she was embraced by strange, shadowy tendrils. Several rune markings were inscribed into the water, giving off a ghastly glow. "A transfer ritual!" Hōō hissed.